I'm sure you've heard by now via the fashion grapevine that Diane vonFurstenberg is suing mass market retailer Forever 21 for copyright infringement. Okay... look at the two dresses there, side-by-side... with the exception of the neckline, they are practically identical... same fabric and everything. I don't blame Diane, I'd be pissed too! It's one thing to recreate an "inspired by" version, but this is a blatant knockoff... same fabric and everything. As a sewer, I would love to turn them both inside out and compare construction. I can guarantee that after a couple of wears, the Forever 21 dress would be falling apart at the seams.

This is a store that I would NEVER purchase anything for myself from because of shoddy workmanship. I don't do DISPOSABLE CLOTHES! However, I do shop there for my 15 year old daughter who is still growing and likes trendy clothes. I promise you that while in there, we have to comb over every garment with a fine toothed comb. There are overlock threads hanging everywhere, seams are uneven and practically falling apart in the fitting rooms.

I've discovered the coolest site and wanted to share in case you guys weren't already familiar with it. It's called myShape.com. It assists you in finding clothes that flatter your body type. For most of you that sew, you should already have your basic measurements handy and you just fill in the blanks. It uses this information to identify which one of The 7 Body Shapes is yours. It takes a few minutes but I think it's neat to have... to give you ideas on what ideally flatters your particular figure.

I am Shape M - Women with softened, straight figures and fairly straight shoulderlines. They have rounded bottoms and the difference between their waist and hip measurements is 7 inches or more.

I was watching the "L" Word tonight and it occurred to me that this is one of the best styled shows on t.v. Out of all of the characters, my favorite style is "Alice". Alice's style is very feminine and girlie and I love dresses. More inspiration found!

is family time. No sewing on yesterday.... we celebrated my oldest daughter - Amber's 15th birthday. We went to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. We've been to the Tennessee Aquarium a couple of times and we decided to check out this one. Fun, fun, fun! Here are some pics from our day.

I'm really getting into this voluminous, bulbous look of this season. I thought this skirt was really cute. It has "the look" without being too much. This little tulip shaped skirt is rated "Vogue Average", but IMHO, it should have been rated "easy". There were only SIX (6) pattern pieces and I sewed this in an afternoon with two DVDs! This skirt is SO basic that it's not a lot to say. The pattern was easy to read, all of the pieces matched up perfectly. The pockets have french seams (which was different to me). The pattern suggested to finish the seams by turning them in ¼" on raw edge and stitch. I thought that this would be too bulky for my fabric. Instead, I serged the edges and pressed the seams open.

This dress is Vogue Pattern's interpretation of one of the pieces from Donna Karan's Spring 2006 collection. I decided to only do the dress. This pattern is rated "Vogue Average" and has 13 pieces. The instructions were very easy to follow and the pieces were laid out well. I did however make small modifications. If you decide to make this dress, be sure to notice the length. I'm 5'9" barefoot and this dress would have stopped mid-calf on me. I adjusted all of the skirt pieces by shortening them by 3", so that when I added the hem bands it would fall just below the knee. No FBA was necessary since the darts lined up perfectly according to my bust measurements. Elastic is placed at the top of the bodice's back and front. I sewed this in using a stretch stitch (or I'm sure you also use a zig-zag).

One unique design feature is that the darts are sewn on the outside -- that's something you may want to pay close attention to. The skirt is attached to the bodice by leaving the pleated edges raw and sewn on top of the bodice. The overall construction of this dress is quite simple but the making of the pleats was really time consuming. I really like this dress and loved the way it is constructed. It's very comfy and flowy. I also decided to add a 2½" ribbon sash to provide a little more definition.